Loves Long Haul*
Can You Stand The Rain
Romantic Love — the most powerful and abundant feeling — the most unexplainable and vexing feeling — yet is — simple.
As I aged, I knew very little — close to nothing of the feeling of romantic love. My only examples were movies like the sound of music or the notebook. They gave me the image of what romantic love is supposed to look like. My concept on romance was quite set in my mind until the summer in which I would be going to 7th grade we had a family move in two houses down. I was lounging in the porch swing after mowing the grass when this young boy asked if I wanted to play soccer. So, I obliged and began to play, then I saw this girl begin to walk towards us and as she walked into my field of view this rush of emotion fell over me.
For the next couple of days, I had no appetite, no desire to sit idle and play my games or watch TV. I began to clean as there was nothing else, I could think of. This was my first experience with romantic love.
My classmate and roommate Adam describes his idea of romantic love and relationships as a flower. To begin you must have a soil or good foundation in which to grow it in; this being who you are and who they are. Without good soil no seed can grow. Then plant the seed, for example like a first date. Following this, you must water the plant setting the groundwork of loyalty. As it goes on it will grow, you will become more comfortable with each other learning each other’s likes and dislikes. Once the flower has fully blossomed It is the strongest it can be. But do not forget that an adult flower still needs water.
Romantic Love is something I can explain in what I call The Journey.
It begins with a companion. Sometimes we do not get to choose our companion as we meet them by chance. The companion is someone who you are going to see the journey with till the end. I met my companion a little over a year ago. When I found out who Mackenzie was it was over social media. For about 6 months I only knew her through quick messages and comments on post. Until one day in the early weeks of July, I just so happened to see the girl who was always in the back of my mind lifeguarding my pool. I could not explain what I felt but just pure, raw emotion. This was the beginning of our journey
Once you have a companion you begin to make a plan. where you want to be, where you want to go and where you want to end up. In relation to my experience my plan would've been the first date. Who I expected her to be, how I thought she would perceive me and how the night would show me who she was. After the plan is laid out a rush of excitement comes, so much so that you begin to become nervous. You forget to sleep, eat or do anything but think of your journey and your companion. You begin to have your mind race thinking of all the possibilities of what could go right and wrong. Following this the journey begins.
The plans you had set forth shatter in front of you. Your companion begins to take you off course to places you never imagined. And with every new landmark, every new setting you become more immersed in your companion. The end of the journey seems all but forgotten. You find yourself lost in the forest of desire, overtaken by the roaring seas of affection and their touch is like a gentle wind of a valley. Then there are nights you get lost in the stars in their eyes floating in bliss and when you return from the abundance of it their smile rises with the sun, and you are adorned with the gentle kiss of their lips and feel the warmth of the morning.
As the journey goes on you learn your companion like the back of your hand. You learn trust as the roads are dangerous, you learn loyalty as its value and power cannot be replaced. In this same notion you will both grow and become stronger not just in yourself but together to the point where no tribulation can undo what you have.
Do not be mistaken. Storms will rage. Some so strong you lose sight of the everything return to yourself, but when you hear the name of the one you love the sky begins to clear and everything begins to focus back. These storms are what define the journey. How you and your companion can handle the adversity and push on together. There have been things that Mackenzie and I have varying opinions on. We have had many small skirmishes and our fair share of the grandiose argument. But every time — no matter how bad that the argument may be; we grow and learn so that we may be stronger together has the storms have only hardened our foundation. Lastly you begin to realize that your plan for wrong anyway and you can no longer see the end of your journey all you can see is your companion.
My journey with Mackenzie is still going strong and with each passing day I love her more and more. She brings me to a point of ecstasy that I cannot explain, even times that I cannot comprehend. As Miller wrote, “[s]he knows me better than anybody else in the world.” In that I relate as she knows me like no other and always will.
Bringing this to a close I cannot explain it any better than the words of the Bible itself, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres — Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:4–8)
